Shortlist revealed for Ray Ford ahead of Atlantic City co-feature spot
Promoter Eddie Hearn says he has “nearly” agreed on an opponent for Raymond Ford to be the co-feature on the April Atlantic City bill, headlined by Jaron Ennis and Eimantas Stanionis.
Ennis is the IBF welterweight champion while Stanionis holds the WBA title, and they will fight on April 12 at Boardwalk Hall.
Former junior lightweight champion Ford, from Camden, defeated Orlando Gonzalez in November as he returned from the first loss of his career, to Liverppol’s Nick Ball.
It is thought that another Liiverppol fighter, Jazza Dickens – fresh off a big win over Zelfa Barrett, who subsequently joined up with trainer Joe Gallagher – has been offered the Ford fight.
“Eduardo] Nunez is fighting the Japanese [Masanori Rikishi] for the [vacant IBF] world title. That’ll be in May,” said Hearn. “So we’ve been looking for a good fight for Ray. Ray wants to fight Nunez. There’s three or four people in the mix. Abraham Nova, Henry LeBron, Christopher Diaz, a few different guys we’re talking to. We want a good fight. Basically, the plan is Nunez versus Rikishi, if Nunez wins the world title, Nunez v Ford for the world title.”
Hearn also said the Atlantic City bill, set to be announced in full next week, would feature “a really good fight [at junior featherweight] between Mexican Arturo Cardenas and Christian Carto, from Philadelphia.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
